This painting depicts a woman in mid conversation in a public telephone box. Her figure is constructed through a series of repeated angular forms, so that she appears to be an extension of the stark geometry of her surroundings. It illustrates John Brack’s strategy of drawing viewers into his work by positioning them as direct and close observers of his subjects. While conversations normally imply connections between people, this work presents the act of communication as strained and isolating.

'The telephone box' is indicative of the powerful statements about urban experience that the artist exhibited in his initial solo shows in 1953 and 1955, which established him as a significant presence in Australian art.

Robert Lindsay, John Brack: a retrospective exhibition, 'The figure in the carpet: some literary and visual sources in the work of John Brack', pg.11 -20., Melbourne, 1987, 31 (illus.). cat no. 17; Private collection